NEW DATA INDICATES ECONOMIC RECOVERY LIKELY TO OCCUR IN SPURTS

The New York Times reported, "New figures on home sales and manufacturing activity suggested on Friday that economic recovery was likely to occur in fits and starts because of high unemployment, a mercurial stock market and shaky consumer demand." Reports on Friday "showed that consumer sentiment rose this week to its highest levels since the start of 2008 and that new-home sales edged up for a fifth consecutive month, but other barometers of the economy revealed uncertainties." Orders for goods "like airplanes and machinery fell unexpectedly in August, the government reported on Friday, showing that the manufacturing sector was still fragile." Overall, orders for durable goods "were down 25 percent from a year earlier. But excluding the transportation sector, durable goods orders were flat in August." Still, the report "was the second signal of economic weakness in two days, and fell short of economists' forecasts for a gain of 0.4 percent."